Robot Spiders Prepare to Explore the Sea

by Mark R

Every once in a while, somebody envisions a robot that feels plucked from a science-fiction movie or novel. Take this undersea robot concept from the Fraunhofer Institute, for example.

Believe it or not, this robot is designed to work independently and underwater. As you can see, the apparatus has four propellers for stabilization, and some arms too.I’m not certain what sort of projects that they have in mind for them, but deep sea exploration would be a good job, if it wasn’t for the pressures of deep water.

Many other blogs have compared its look to a certain robot that Neo wakes up to in The Matrix. Considering that these robots are programmed to act independently, how long will it be before they build more of themselves, and invade like the machines in The Matrix? The movie of that would be a combination of I, Robot and the 1977 William Shatner classic Kingdom of the Spiders.

The shape reminds me of this episode of GI Joe that takes place underwater. On this show, the evil Destro pulls out a ball that he calls a robot-opus and throws it at the good guys. Don’t ask me how he throws this underwater, but this tiny robot-opus ball opens up like an eye and sprouts eight tentacles to attack.